


In the Stone-Carver's Workshop

by opalmatrix



Category: Always Coming Home - Ursula K. Le Guin
Genre: Artists, Crafts, Gen, Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 14:09:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17163398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: On a trip to the Valley of the Na, you visit a carver of stone fetishes.





	In the Stone-Carver's Workshop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Northland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northland/gifts).



> A little world-building, a little crossover ... .

Welcome, visitor! This is our workshop. Over there, Clemency and Bright Cloud work on silver jewelry. They have gone to Telina to buy turquoise. I have some pieces left, too flawed for their work, but I think I can see some shapes within. I will see whether I can coax them out.

Oh, yes, where are my manners? I am Dreaming Hare, at this time of my life. And here are the children of my dreams, the little shapes, the fetishes I make.

Each material brings its own challenges, but I enjoy the change. These are abalone shell, from the ocean. Coral is from the sea too, far away from here. Travertine is from the lands hereabout, and look, this one is jasper. They say this stone, this pale one, is actually the tooth of a walrus, from the far north, and these are made from elk antler, very old. They say that the great elk herds of the north are long gone: they all became vedet.

Oh, those are carved from serpentine! They are my little brother and sisters, because I am of the Serpentine. It's a very common stone but very dear to me.

Well. Long ago, the shapes were believed to have powers. You might have need to have success in a hunt, so you would ask the keeper of your heyimas for a fetish that would help. Or you might be a trader and want help with your eloquence, so you could make a good bargain on a trading voyage. Even now, people feel that a fetish can be heyiya, and many people like to have them to carry in a pocket as a worry-stone, or in a box or basket or pouch, wherever they keep their heyiya things.

Yes, some of them are shaped like human people. Some say that the animal people are the more traditional forms, but I believe that some human forms were traditional too, because the people long ago believed that those of the Four Houses could take human as well as animal forms. I am not certain that I know the truth, but I have read a little, from the Exchange. It's possible.

Oh, that one? That's malachite, a hard stone to carve, but I am starting to be comfortable with it. Yes, his ears are pointed, like a cat, I guess. It's an idea I got from a story. I used a green stone because his blood was said to be green. He's the Falcon. No, not the bird. It's a different word, it just sounds the same. Some of the stories say Valkan or or Fulcan, though.

I will tell you the story. He was a sort of human person, two-legged, a user of tools, like you and I. One of his parents was from another world, and the other was from this world. So he was always pulled back and forth between his mother's people and his father's people, and he had great difficulty expressing what he felt about this. But even so, he became a person of peace, a great traveler among worlds, and a good friend to those who loved him. It was a very popular tale, long ago: there were recorded dramas about this person and his fellow travelers.

After I studied these histories, I made these fetishes of him to help those suffering similarly, pulled between identities. Would you like to have that one? Oh no, please, take it. I love to speak about my work, and you have given me a chance to do so! Your presence, your listening ears, are your gift. 

Enjoy your visit among us! Stop by and say farewell when you go, if you can.

**Author's Note:**

> This article includes some information about traditional Zuni fetishes: [The Zuni Way](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-zuni-way-150866547/), _Smithsonian Magazine_ site, accessed Dec. 25, 2018.


End file.
